Friday, February 08, 2008

NO HOLDS BARRED: Charles Farrell and the Next Great Fights in Boxing

On this edition of NO HOLDS BARRED, host Eddie Goldman speaks with the award-winning boxing writer, and our correspondent on this show, Charles Farrell.

Our main subject in this lengthy discussion is the bountiful schedule for boxing over the next few months.

Among the fights we discuss are the February 9 welterweight fight between Paul Williams and Carlos Quintana; the February 16 rematch between Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor, plus the junior bantamweight fights of Fernando Montiel vs. Martin Castillo and Cristian Mijares vs. Jose Navarro; the February 23 heavyweight unification fight between IBF champ Wladimir Klitschko and WBO champ Sultan Ibragimov; the March 1 rubber match between junior featherweights Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez, whose two battles last year are leading candidates for 2007 fight of the year; the March 8 card featuring the long-delayed WBC heavyweight title fight between Oleg Maskaev and Samuel Peter, along with lightweight champ Juan Diaz vs. Nate Campbell and heavyweights John Ruiz and Jameel McCline; the March 8 cruiserweight title fight between David Haye and Enzo Maccarinelli; the March 15 rematch between super featherweights Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez; the March 22 fight between lightweights Joel Casamayor and Michael Katsidis; the April 12 rematch between welterweights Antonio Margarito and Kermit Cintron; the April 19 fight between Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins; and more.

Towards the end of this discussion, we also take aim at the less-than-mediocre quality of boxing journalism, especially in the U.S.

To listen to NO HOLDS BARRED, click here and just press the play button on the player.

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Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Monday, February 04, 2008

NO HOLDS BARRED: Bob Meyrowitz and YAMMA Pit Fighting

On this edition of NO HOLDS BARRED, host Eddie Goldman speaks with Bob Meyrowitz, whose new mixed martial arts league, YAMMA Pit Fighting (YPF), will be debuting Friday, April 11, 2008, at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with a pay-per-view show. Bob is the former CEO of Semaphore Entertainment Group, which produced the original, classic UFC events from 1993 to 2001.

Among the topics Bob discussed were the format of tournaments and masters super fights which will be used in this organization; incorrect speculation about their new fighting surface; how they plan to persuade viewers to buy their pay-per-views; the lack of understanding by many of the early, classic UFC events; his opinion of the present-day UFC and the quality of their fighters; some of the newer MMA organizations; the need to produce stars; the reasoning behind and history of the marketing strategy of the early UFC’s, including the use of humor; how a pro boxer would do in MMA; the relation of the early UFC’s to various state athletic commissions; the experience with the New York commission and politicians in 1996 and 1997; the importance of ring girls; and more.

To listen to NO HOLDS BARRED, click here and just press the play button on the player.

You can also download it by scrolling down that page and clicking on the download link (right-click to save it).

You can also listen to it through the player on this blog and the NO HOLDS BARRED MySpace page, also by pressing the play button on the player.

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

There were two women's fights on Star Boxing's "Punchin' at the Paradise 8" card at the Utopia Paradise Theater in the Bronx, New York, which was held Thursday, Jan. 31. Right after her fight, we spoke with Alicia Ashley (14-7-1, 1 KO), who won an eight-round unanimous decision on that card over Brooke Dierdorff (4-2-1, 3 KOs) to win the vacant NABF women's super bantamweight title. We also spoke with former New York City Golden Gloves champion, super bantamweight Ronica Jeffrey, who won her pro debut, also on that card, with a four-round unanimous decision over Karen Dulin, also making her pro debut. And we spoke with Jill Diamond, NABF Women's Division Chair, a member of the WBC Championship Committee, and the World Boxing Cares Chair, about the state of women's boxing today.

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